The 2022 EU – Latin America convention on Raw Materials took place on 3 and 4 November in Santiago de Chile. The convention was organised in the framework of the EU-Latin American Partnership on Raw Materials and brought together the mineral raw materials community including policy makers, industry, the private sector, and researchers in the EU and partner countries in Latin America (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Brazil).
FutuRaM was invited as part of the EU delegation to promote knowledge exchange between the EU and partner countries. The thematic sessions covered critical raw materials for the energy transition, upstream and downstream battery raw material projects as well as standards and EU industrial alliances and external cooperation actions.
Daniel Monfort (BRGM) presented FutuRaM in a round table including DERA-BGR, IEA and JRC. The discussion touched upon metal demand scenarios, recycling, and urban mining as well as the importance of data quality in assessing future material needs. He underlined the importance of recycling in new critical raw material needs, however noted that recycling on its own will not suffice to cover the incoming demand.
Participating in the EU-Latin America convention on Raw Materials at such an early stage of the project was an excellent opportunity to incite discussion and gain a better understanding of not only other actors in the EU but also in Latin America.
